DibWell they ran tests by demoing it to some focus groups. The reactions were unanimously positive: people were thrilled, and frankly that scared the hell out of Disney so they ditched the project and began scripting Cinderella 3.

almoI saw ads for a straight to DVD Little Mermaid prequel at a few bus stops today. Your comment really isn't all that far off.

XenocideAnswer: This test was made in 1983 the year after Tron came out.

Here's a good example of Disney's sugarcoat-everything marketing approach: the narrator brags about Tron, but that movie was considered a box office failure (despite actually turning a modest profit at the time) and it led to the cancellation of several projects in development. Disney became skittish about CG thanks to Tron, so the Wild Things project was practically doomed from the start; especially when you add the fact that 90 minutes of CG (even just for backgrounds) would have been incredibly expensive in 1983. Before the project was even done, Disney had decided Wild Things wasn't a long enough book to justify a typical film and decided to make it as a showcase for CG. Without the CG, the project was killed.

A few months after completing this test, John Lasseter was fired from Disney for annoying the wrong exec. Of course, he came back a decade later, gave the world Toy Story, and now runs the entire studio.

baleenAround that time Disney was being attacked externally by robber barons and torn to pieces internally by Michael Eisner.

HarveyjamesIt's a nice little curio, but I can't really see this being all that great a film. I think they were right to hang on.

Dinkin FlickaDisney always overdoes their final products. I know this stuff is incorporated into things like Beauty and the Beast, but I find this unfinished product much more interesting to look at and all-around aesthetically fulfilling than the definitive products they eventually used this in.